Integrated Maternal and Newborn Care Basic Skills Course ...

Reference Manual
Recommended cleaning procedures are as follows:
• Cleaning procedures will depend upon the potential risk of contamination. Low-risk areas
include waiting rooms and administrative areas. High-risk areas are toilets, latrines, and
sluice rooms, and client-care areas such as operating theaters, procedure rooms,
laboratories, areas where instruments are cleaned and processed.
• Develop and post cleaning schedules where all housekeeping staff can see them. Make
sure that cleaning schedules are closely maintained.
• Clean immediately: after spills, procedures, and deliveries.
• Clean daily (at each shift if work load is excessive): delivery, operation, and
examination/procedure rooms; floors, furniture, toilets/latrines, waste containers; and
wipe incubators and radiant warmers with disinfectant solutions.
• Always wear gloves (preferably thick utility gloves) when cleaning.
• Use a damp or wet mop or cloth for walls, floors, and surfaces, instead of dry-dusting or
sweeping, to reduce the spread of dust and micro-organisms.
• Scrubbing is the most effective way to remove dirt and micro-organisms. Scrubbing
should be a part of every cleaning procedure.
• Wash surfaces from top to bottom so that debris falls to the floor and is cleaned up last.
Clean the highest fixtures first and work downward; for example, clean ceiling lamps,
then shelves, then tables, and then the floor.
• Change cleaning solutions whenever they appear to be dirty. A solution is less likely to
kill infectious micro-organisms if it is heavily soiled.
• Clean up spills of potentially infectious fluids immediately. When cleaning up spills:
o Always wear gloves.
o If the spill is small, wipe it with a cloth that has been saturated with a disinfectant
(0.5% chlorine) solution.
o If the spill is large, cover (flood) the area with a disinfectant (0.5% chlorine) solution,
mop up the solution, and then clean the area with a disinfectant cleaning solution.
CLEAN DELIVERY CARE
Related to clean delivery practices, some promote the concept of the three "cleans"—clean
hands, clean surface, and clean cord care—or the five "cleans": clean hands, clean surface,
clean instrument for cutting the cord, clean ligatures for tying the cord, and then keeping the
cord clean and dry. There is also the seven cleans: the five cleans plus clean perineum and
keeping the vagina clean without introducing anything unclean inside it.
The main supplies needed for the “cleans” include:
• A waterproof plastic cover (to provide a clean surface)
• Soap
• An unused razor blade kept in its cover for cutting the cord
• Clean cord ties (both the razor blade and the cord ties should preferably be boiled for at
least 10 minutes before use)
• Clean, washed, and sun-dried towels kept in a clean container for drying and wrapping
the baby
• A clean perineum
• A clean vagina without introducing anything unclean inside
Integrated maternal and newborn care
Basic skills course
21